Brrrrrrr!; Readings from the atomic clock; A possible depiction of said clock; A rare restaurant lunch; Chocolate peanut butter pie; Expensive and cheap umbrellae

Well, the weather has certainly made a dramatic turn from the weekend. Then it was muggy and uncomfortable. Yesterday and today, it has been cold and uncomfortable. I would guess that last night may have been the coldest of the season.

My atomic clock, with the module outside that lets you know the temp, well, outside, also registers the temp inside. It reads 65 inside and 34 outside.

I just love that term "atomic clock"; maybe it should be in the shape of a mushroom cloud hovering over a decimated city. To give it a little more spice, if you were to look closely at the base, you could make out the ruins of the Chrysler Building, the Statue of Liberty and Central Park.

Good Grief! That's certainly a macabre image for a cold January morning. We need to talk of more pleasant things such as goldfish, puppies and butterflies. (Just so long as they're not mutations caused by the radiation.)

Mercy! This is starting off to be a fun-filled day.

Since I've been having such money problems of late, one of my ways to save has been to eat lunch at home as much as possible. And that has proven very helpful.

But yesterday, I actually had lunch at the buffet place. The first time in a couple of weeks. Big meals hold no interest for me. At home or outside. I usually eat about 3/4 of whatever dishes I've selected. Unless it has chocolate in it.

Ten years ago, I had a slice of chocolate peanut butter pie at the Adolphus Hotel in Dallas that I still remember with fondness. I remember nothing else about the location, the hotel or the meal.

Oh! Wait! I do remember something else. I needed an umbrella, and the concierge sent me to Neiman Marcus where the cost of the umbrellae were in the three-figure range. I walked down the street and went into H.L Green's and got one for $10.

PAX!